My First Day As a Working Mom

I’ll begin a run down of my first day as a working mom with the night before.

Sunday night, 7:30pm – We start Jack’s bedtime routine.  Bath – lotion – nurse – swaddle – sleep.  He goes to sleep about 8:15pm.

8:45pm – Benzo and I watch the new episode of True Blood.  We go to sleep immediately after at 9:45pm.

1:30am – Thunder and lightning wake me up.  I get up, let the dogs in, go to the bathroom and then lay back down.

1:45am – Jack wakes up.  I nurse him and go back to bed.

4:15am – Jack wakes up.  I nurse him and consider just staying up but then go back to bed.

5:20am – Benzo’s alarm goes off.  He snoozes it until 5:45am.  We decide to get up at the same time to make it easier on each other.  I shower first and start getting ready for work. 

6:30am – Jack wakes up.  I nurse him while Benzo gets ready then hand him off to Benzo so I can finish getting ready.

7:00am – I make a bowl of oatmeal and try to scarf it down.  I vow to make overnight oats the rest of the week.

7:30am – All Jack’s stuff is ready to go.  Get ready to put Jack in car seat and he spits up all over himself.  Change Jack into a new outfit.  Put Jack in car seat and hear him do a big number 2.  Get Jack out of the car seat and change his diaper.  Put him back in the car seat.  Finally the entire family gets out of the house with all our various computer bags, diaper bags, pump bags, etc.

7:45am – Arrive at day care.  On the way we saw a gorgeous rainbow!  Normally Benzo will drop Jack off but since it’s his first day I decide to go too.  Jack is perfectly content.  I give him a hug and manage to leave.  Hug Benzo in the parking lot and then head to work.  I call my mom on the way for support.

8:15am – Arrive at work.  The security guard welcomes me back and tells me where the mother’s room is when I ask.  I go scope it out and then head for my desk.  Since I nursed Jack at 6:30 I plan to pump at 9:30.

8:25am – Fire up computer and find I have about 250 unread e-mails.  This is actually way less than I thought I would have.  Upon reading my e-mail I realize that I have a department meeting from 9 – 11am.  Do I pump before or after?  I decide to pump before.  I stop by my boss’s desk to say hello and chat for a few minutes.

8:45am – First pumping session.  Wow pumping is a pain.  I get 5 ounces and am at least 10 minutes late to my meeting.

9:10 am – Department meeting.  I am reminded of my first week of work at this job because I have absolutely no idea what anyone is talking about and find it very hard to concentrate.  Think about Jack and wonder what he is doing.

11:20am – Meeting finally ends.  Good thing I pumped beforehand.  Head back to desk and chat with coworker for a bit.  Use the facilities and fill up water bottle.  Read and sort a few e-mails, take care of some administrative stuff.

11:45am – Wow, already time to pump again!  The mother’s room is as far away from my desk as possible so I am mad at myself for wearing uncomfortable heels today.  I get set up, pump and then wash the parts.  I get another 5 ounces.

12:10pm – Back at desk.  Read and sort e-mails.  E-mail my friend Kelly for tips on how to shorten the time on my pumping routine.  She has some good ones.

12:30pm – Go down to cafeteria for lunch.  I had previously decided to buy my lunch all this week as I get used to the new routine.  I get a black bean burger and feel like I should get some broccoli.  But I get roasted potatoes instead.  And a chocolate cookie.  Eat lunch at desk and log on to day care website to see what Jack is doing.  He is just up from a nap and there is a little picture of him laying in the crib!  🙂

1:00 pm – Continue to sort through e-mails.  Meet with boss to catch up on things.  Go through an online learning class that I was supposed to have done while I was on leave.  Read and sort more e-mails.  Obsessively check the day care website to see what Jack is doing.  Change desktop background to a picture of Jack.

3:30pm – More pumping.  I had to wait till 3:30 because the room was booked for the whole hour before.  Walk down to room with cramp in leg because of dumb shoes.  When I arrive at the room someone is still in there.  I wait and play solitaire on my phone.  Finally after 15 minutes I decide to go knock.  But just before I do a logisics gal walks by and says I can use the quiet room.  I decide to just go in there since I don’t want to wait any longer.  Pumping takes 20 minutes!  Sheesh.  I get 7 ounces.

4:20pm – Finally get back to desk.  Decide I’m going to have to start taking my computer with me on these pumping excursions so I can still be productive and not feel guilty.  Debate whether I should still leave at 4:30 since I’ve spent so much time pumping.

4:30pm – Decide to leave anyway.

5:00pm – Arrive at day care.  Wheeee!  Jack is happily laying on the play mat sucking on his fingers.  The gals say he did great.  He had three bottles and took a bunch of cat naps.  Hopefully he can become a better napper.

5:15pm – Arrive home.  Takes a few trips to get all of my stuff and Jack’s stuff into the house.  Decide to find a way to cut down on number of bags.

5:30pm – Change clothes and nurse Jack.  This is a great moment of my day – to finally be at home holding my baby.

5:45pm – Benzo gets home.  I finish nursing Jack and then play with him for a few minutes.  Then Benzo steals him away!  I go take care of my pumping supplies.  I get the milk I pumped today ready to go for tomorrow and then wash all the bottles and lay everything out to dry.  Do some other stuff that I can’t remember right now…

6:15 ish – Start cooking dinner while Benzo and Jack watch the baseball game. 

6:45 ish – Dinner is ready.  Jack decides to start fussing so I walk Jack around while Ben eats.  Jack falls asleep.  I lay him on the Boppy and then I eat.

7:30pm – Jack wakes up and we start his bedtime routine.  Bath – lotion – nurse – swaddle – sleep.  He nurses for a really long time.  I’m kind of sad that it’s already time for him to go to bed and wish we had more time with him.

8:30pm – Jack is alseep.  I really want to go right to sleep but I’ve had this blog rolling around in my head all day so I decide to sit down and type it out.

9:00pm – Finish blog and publish.  Benzo is already asleep.  I’m headed there now and praying Jack sleeps for awhile.

Whew!